In this day and age, pro athletes only continue to make more and more money. Contracts for players are now stretching into the hundreds of millions of dollars just to play a professional sport. This unfortunately now seems to be the rule and not the exception. However, there was a different time. A time when the money wasn’t everything and players dropped everything in favor of their country to serve in the armed forces.
The first player that comes to mind around ASU is certainly Pat Tillman. Tillman played at ASU from 1994-1998 as a linebacker despite only standing 5’11”. He went on to play safety for the Arizona Cardinals and in 2002 turned down a three-year $3.6 million contract in order to serve in the army. Tillman wanted to make it as an army ranger. Tillman died on April 22, 2004 from friendly fire during a battle with the Taliban fighters.
Ted Williams served his country during World War II, foregoing five seasons of his MLB career. Photo courtesy of the Milwaukee Journal-SentinelWorld War II took the heaviest toll on professional sports. Major League Baseball player Bob Feller was the first player to enlist just two days after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Legendary left-hander Warren Spahn spent three years as a combat engineer and was the only professional athlete to earn a battlefield commission as a second lieutenant. Famed Yankees catcher Yogi Berra served in the Navy while Stan Musial, Joe Dimaggio and Ted Williams all saw time in the service as well.
Who would replace these players that went to war? Over 500 major league baseball players went to war, and President Roosevelt voiced that he would like to see baseball continue to be played throughout the war. The answer was — almost anybody still around. Joe Nuxhall became the youngest player in history when he pitched for Cincinnati in 1944 at the age of 15. A one-armed outfielder named Pete Gray played for the St. Louis Browns in 1945.
However, there have been athletes who were unwilling to go to war. The most famous was Muhammad Ali. On April 28, 1967 Ali publically refused to go into the Vietnam War. On June 20, 1967 Ali was convicted for refusing induction into the U.S. Armed Forces. Ali believed the war was genocide. Cassius Clay, as Ali was known at the time, was sentenced to five years in federal prison. Ali had his heavyweight title stripped and was exiled by most media and popular culture for the majority of the next four years. After years of fighting, Ali finally won an appeal in front of the U.S. Supreme Court
Some players gave up the best years of their playing careers to fight for America. Think about some of the numbers that could have been put up by athletes in their respective sports if they would have stayed and played. However, they left. They went to put everything on the line for people back home and for that, everybody should be eternally grateful.
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